Retailers

Tend to focus their considerable energy on assisting policyholder clients to find coverage, with varying degrees of claims involvement depending upon the size of their clients. In a segmented world claims teams can be modest in size and involvement in the claims process. In some cases there is very limited or no participation from the claims team and the client deals direct with the US carrier who also maintains the loss records. Retailers invest time to form valued relationships with the policyholder and a stress-free experience is obviously desirable in the event of a claim. London offers a subtle difference to the established domestic model. Via a wholesaler, like Miller, our claims team broker takes on the representation and dialogue with the underwriters from first advice to settlement.  The London wholesalers’ respective claims teams should have the client-facing skills and subject matter knowledge to provide as much support as necessary throughout the claims process. 

Wholesalers

Act as intermediary between Retailer and the London market via Miller. Wholesalers rarely have direct contact with the insured, leaving the Retailer to manage that relationship. Few wholesalers elect to be actively involved in the claims process, generally preferring to shorten the communications chain if possible. We work on behalf of and alongside wholesalers throughout the claims process, bringing the necessary subject matter and market navigation expertise to bear for each claim, maximising the benefits of local knowledge at each active point in the claims conversation chain.

MGAs

Are seen as the voice of the policy by their policyholders. Generally having relatively low scale claims handling teams and calling on the assistance of Third Party Administrators to handle the majority of their clients claims. Claims volumes are usually high with comparatively low values but require constant attention in order to ensure that the MGA always benefits from an appropriate level of loss funding to enable as frictionless as possible claims payments to be made, even after natural catastrophes such as hurricanes. Miller assists in this space by using proprietary FARS software to closely monitor and process the ebb and flow of millions of dollars of premiums and multi-line claims bordereaux and also to advocate to delegated authority underwriters in the event of an unusual claim which requires a greater degree of focus due to its scale or complexity.

Miller’s Claims team works as one team but is comprised of specialists in each class of business. This structure enables us to share our wide variety of knowledge and skills quickly, and bring appropriate claims advocacy resources to bear whatever the challenge we face alongside our clients. For every claim we are involved in, across all three of the above client bases, we use our data systems to build a detailed picture of each assured, retailer or wholesaler’s loss record at both macro and micro levels which confers advantage when negotiating claims settlements and renewing business.

The London Market comprises around 47,000 people. While expert advice, risk transfer and of course claims service are at the heart of the market’s offering, the market is really a complex ecosystem of widely varying skills, knowledge and experience. The market has evolved over centuries to reflect the needs of its customers and continues to do so today. The natural consequence of so many connected specialists is the opportunity to find someone who can provide helpful insight into a particular issue, be that a specialist class of business, an engineering issue, a legal dilemma, or just finding a more efficient way of getting things done. 

In recent years the market has recognised the need for greater transparency in the claims space and major projects are under way to facilitate faster claims processing and settlement. Miller’s insight has been sought across the market for these projects as we are recognised as a forerunner in Claims service in terms of knowledge, integrity, and for our clear focus on our clients’ needs in all the classes of business we service.

Our strong market connections and ability to navigate them enabled us to move seamlessly to remote working as Covid-19 swept the world in March. For example, we were able to remotely explain to a carrier in March that a complex high profile international sporting event was highly likely to be cancelled in June, achieving a multi-million dollar claim payment for our client months before the policy was technically triggered. For US MGAs we are able to call upon trusted partners in the market for loss funds when their US policyholders are in the path of hurricanes, often in advance of landfall. 

Clients can sometimes be tempted to see the London claims process as adversarial in nature but our experience bears out that a more collegiate approach, bringing out the best of all parties involved, helps to resolve claims in a focussed and effective manner.